"Extortion" at CBS News ... A "Shakedown"

Take a wild guess who we're talking about ...

You know what a shakedown is?

The dictionary defines it this way: “An act of extorting money or favors through threats or pressure.”

Now ask yourself—what does it look like when the President of the United States sues a major news network for $20 billion during an election year, while that network's parent company is in the middle of a high-stakes merger?

Sure looks like a shakedown to me.

Donald Trump is suing CBS News—a place I worked for 28 years—because he claims “60 Minutes” intentionally edited an interview with Kamala Harris before the election to make her come off as more articulate, more knowledgeable than she actually is.

According to his legal team, “CBS’s misconduct was unconscionable because it amounts to a brazen attempt to interfere in the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election.”

Unconscionable. That’s the word they’re going with. And the price tag? Twenty billion dollars.

That’s not a lawsuit. That’s a ransom note.

For what it's worth, I’d like to think I would have edited the Harris interview differently. She was asked about the war in Gaza and offered up a trademark “word salad” answer before giving a more concise, intelligible response. “60 Minutes” ran only the short answer, the one that made sense. I think I would have reasoned that the woman is running for president and if she talks in “word salads” the audience needs to know that.